Question 1

Why is он взрослый translated as 'he is an adult' without a word for 'is'?

Accepted Answer

In Russian, the present tense of the verb 'to be' is almost always left out. You literally say 'he adult' (он взрослый) and 'your brother already adult' (твой брат уже взрослый).

Question 2

Is взрослый an adjective or a noun here?

Accepted Answer

It looks exactly like a masculine adjective with its -ый ending, and it technically is one. However, it frequently acts as a noun meaning 'an adult' or 'a grown-up'. It changes its endings to match gender and case just like a regular adjective.

Question 3

This lesson is about expressing age with the Dative case, like ему. Why do we use он here instead?

Accepted Answer

You only use the Dative case (like ему, meaning 'to him') when expressing a specific numerical age, such as ему двадцать лет (he is 20 years old). When you use a descriptive word for someone's stage of life, like взрослый (adult), you just use the basic Nominative case subject (он).

Question 4

Why is it твой брат instead of твоя брат?

Accepted Answer

Possessive words like 'your' have to match the gender of the noun they describe. Since брат (brother) is a masculine noun, you must use the masculine form твой. If you were asking about a sister, it would be the feminine твоя сестра.

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